


thoughts read unspoken

by ohmygodwhy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, give this boy happiness, i am on a pjo roll, idk if this is a good or bad thing, wanted to explore hazel's thoughts on this whole thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 16:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3735571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodwhy/pseuds/ohmygodwhy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Because Hazel saw the way the son of Jupiter looked at her brother, and she hoped- cautiously cautiously hoped- that Nico could see it too,"</p>
            </blockquote>





	thoughts read unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> nico can try, but hazel is the real overprotective sibling here

 

 

The first time she noticed it, they were flying to rescue their friends. It was an offhanded remark, passing in a conversation she wasn’t really a part of, but she heard it: a simple, “Hey, man, cut Nico some slack,” dropped and left uncommented on, and if it had fallen from the mouth of anyone other than Jason Grace, she would have encouraged it, would have felt more at ease because of it. But Jason Grace had been the one to push Nico so heavily towards the edge of suspicion days before they’d even gotten to him, he had been the one to eye him the most and welcome him the least, he had been the one obviously hesitant to go to that island alone with him- and now he was _defending_ him?

Nico, of course, was alone up on the mast. He’d climbed up almost as soon as the two of them had returned with the scepter, and he hadn’t come down since. Something had happened in Croatia, and although she was worried (more worried than she wanted to admit to herself, more worried than she could let herself be- every time she thought about where they were headed her thoughts plunged to Tartarus, to Percy and Annabeth, and forever back to the fact that her brother had been down there within a week ago, alone, alone, tragically alone), she knew she couldn’t force anything out of him, and didn’t have the heart to try.

 

 

 

(She noticed the way the son of Jupiter’s eyes filled with concern whenever Nico was brought up.

Leo disappeared into the sky when the ship was attacked and left a worried hole in her chest.

Piper became more and more of a friend to her- Hazel helped her train, often hours at a time, beating her and claiming her knife again and again until Piper slipped from her grasp and she found herself face down on the floor.

They talked, and when she talked about Jason her voice was heavy with affection and admiration and Hazel decided that if Piper thought that highly of him, she could find it in herself to trust him too.)

 

 

 

The second time she noticed it, they were stranded on the shores somewhere along the northern coast of Africa. Hours upon hours had been spent trying to repair the ship no one but Leo really knew how to fix (but Leo was gone, off somewhere and the only way she knew he wasn’t dead was the fact that Nico hadn’t felt it- he would’ve told her first, she knew certainly), and the king of the wind was apparently not very willing to offer them any help.

And then Nico was back, striding heavily across the deck with an aura about him that seemed to still the air when he passed- without even a wave in her direction. Faint mutterings and angry sighs, of which she only caught “damn Jason _Grace_ ,” and “doesn’t know _anything_ ,” and a few words with edges of Italian to them and then he was back up on the mast- it was becoming his only retreat and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

 

 

 

(Leo returned to them with a vague loneliness in his gaze and she held Frank close that night.

Nico stayed up in his perch and hardly ate and slept even less. 

Time kept tick tick ticking away the seconds they had left before their friends would either reach the doors or die trying.)

 

 

 

The third time she noticed it, she could feel the dozens of feet of Earth pressing down from above, and the hundreds of feet stretching out below them. They were surrounded by spirits and dangers and they could very possibly die (but hey, what else was new?), and she was full of restless anxiety and anticipation and knew everyone else felt the same.

“You asked me about trust, and taking a risk?” her brother’s voice was careful and carried a light weight of suspicion and _challenge_ , as though he was curious to see what would happen if he continued, “Well, here you go, son of Jupiter. How much do you trust me?”

There wasn’t a moment of hesitation between Jason taking the chalice of poison and bringing that poison to his lips- she only caught a glimpse of the expression on Nico’s face before it was quickly concealed, but if she had to give it a name, she supposed she would call it utter shock (and a bit of hope).

 

 

 

 (They made it, they made it, and she had fulfilled her role in the horrible prophecy- the mist was _hers_ to control and the way Nico beamed at her and Frank hugged her and everyone praised her made her happy enough to cry.

She didn’t see Nico for a long long time. He was off with the coach and that praetor and she desperately hoped he would be alright. Desperately hoped they would all be alright. Desperately hoped this war would be stopped before it started).

 

 

 

The fourth time she noticed it, the war was over (Leo was gone again- gone for good because Nico had felt it and so had she- but Frank was alive and she was alive and Nico was alive; the Hades cabin was theirs for a night and they talked like real siblings for the first time in a long time, and he teased Frank and she blushed and Nico laughed and she felt at _home_ again and the war was over).

She woke to the sound of faint voices drifting in from outside. Familiar voices, the clear, slightly loud, naturally leader-like voice Jason had, and her brother’s softer, almost groggy one (he _wasn’t_ a morning person- she’d learned that when he’d stayed the night at Camp Jupiter and refused to get up until the sun was high in the sky).

She heard Leo’s name, and she heard Rachel’s name, and when she got up to open the door she heard something else and stopped in her tracks.

“I-I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to-“

“I’m staying,”

She blinked.

“What?”

“At Camp Half-Blood,”

She blinked again, and felt something drop in her stomach when she realized Nico had been planning to _leave_ \- and go _where?_ It dropped even further when she realized that somehow Jason had caught wind of this and she hadn’t and she wasn’t sure if she should be angry or not.

But when she took a few steps right to look out the window at the two of them sitting so casually together, she knew she couldn’t- because Nico was smiling and Jason was smiling (and apologizing when Nico gasped for breath in the confines or what she assumed to be a crushing hug), and she didn’t think she’d seen him happier in a long long time.

And then she felt her heart stop for a moment- she looked at the expression on the blond’s face and realized what it was she’d been noticing.

 

 

 

(Life was slowly repairing itself, swinging gradually back into a normal- as normal as it could get- routine of training and games and walks through the fields hand in hand with the newest praetor.

The camps were getting along and getting situated into the idea of getting along and she Iris-messaged her brother and her friends and they visited a lot and she felt safer and happier than she ever had before).

 

 

 

The fifth time she noticed it, she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. She’d returned to the camp for a visit (with Frank in tow), waiting near the dining pavilion when a group of demigods came rushing in (from a game of capture the flag, she noted), Nico and Jason in their midst and they were grimy and sweating and laughing, a bright red flag was hoisted over Nico’s shoulder and apparently their team had just won.

When Nico caught sight of her he immediately tossed the flag to someone in the crowd and ran to meet her. She smiled and he smiled and he said she probably didn’t wanna hug him in his current state (she did anyways- she was happy to see him, she told him- and sort of regretted it a moment later when some of the dirt coating his jacket rubbed off on her shirt). They ate together; the rest of the seven (six, she reminded herself sadly, six of the seven) wandered over sooner or later, and they were talking and laughing like they’d never been apart.

Jason slung his arm over Nico’s shoulder, and to her surprise she didn’t see him flinch away (at least not in the way he had when Percy punched his shoulder jokingly or Will flicked his forehead).

And over the course of the meal, watching out of the corner of her eye, watching the gestures Nico made with his hands when he talked (which wasn’t very much, just the occasional input or sarcastic remark here or there, but it was more than he would have a few months ago), watching the grins that split across his face, watching the way he reached to take bits and pieces of Jason’s food without getting any protest, she found herself smiling, because Hazel saw the way the son of Jupiter looked at her brother, and she hoped- cautiously cautiously hoped- that Nico could see it too.

 

 

 


End file.
